Staple.



PATENTED JAN. '20; A1903.

UNITED STATES PATENT l OFFICE.

TILLIAM H. MOREHOUSE, OF vVASCO, OREGON.

STAPLE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent 1\T o. '71 8,649, datedJanuary 20, 1903.

Application filed January 8,1902. Serial No. 88,919. (No model.)

[o all wiz/0m, it' may con/cern:

Be it known that l, WILLIAM H. MORE- HOUSE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Wasco, in the county of Sherman and State of Oregon,have invented a new and useful Staple, of which the following is aspecication.

This invention relates to improvements in staples, and particularly tothat class of which my former patented structure forms a part, saidpatent having` been granted April 30, 1901, and numbered 673,216.

The ordinary two-prong staple now in general use enters the post withtwo prongs parallel with the grain of the timber, often causing a crackor check at their points of entrance. As the timber is exposed to theelements, these cracks will often receive water, which rots the wood,and in time the adjacent portions will shrink away from the prongs, sothat the staple becomes loose and will readily pullout.

The present staple is adapted especially for securing fence-wires towooden posts and for fastening wooden slats or stays to wires betweenthe posts. As shown, it has three prongs that take entirely dierentdirections when driven into the timber, thereby preventing their comingloose. Further than this, the two outer prongs spread outwardly andforce the wood between them against the central prong, preventing unduechecking by the same, this central prong in like manner crowding thematerial against the outer prongs, thereby preventing the wood beingsplit bythem. For the above reason, therefore, it is especially adaptedfor securing small slats or stays to line-wires.

In the former patented structure a pair of holding-prongs are p-rovidedwhich spread away from each other when driven into a post or othersupport, and the material between these holding-prongs is forced againstthem by means of a pair of outwardly-spreading wedging-prongs that arespaced from the same. This structure is very tenacious in itsengagement, but is rather expensive to manufacture because of thecomparatively great waste of metal from which the blanks are cut. Thisinvention, therefore, is designed as an improvement on said structure inthat it is much cheaper to make and at the same time has'all theadvantages thereof.

The invention will be readily understood by referring to theaccompanying drawings, taken in connection with the followingspecification. The construction as set forth may, however, be slightlychanged, provided such changes are within the scope of the appendedclaims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved staple.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of apost, illustrating the condition of the staple when driven into thesame. Fig. 4 is a cross sectional View of the staple. Fig. 5 is a planView of a blank strip, showing the method of cutting the same.

Similar characters of reference designate4 corresponding drawings.

The staple, as shown, comprises a curved base v10, which thereby formsin its inner face a wire-receiving seat 1l. From one edge of this baseprojects a pair of spaced, preferably parallel, holding-prongs 12, thefree ends of which are tapered on their inner or adjacent faces to formthe points V13.` From the opposite edgeY of the base 10 projects awedging-prong 14, said prong being located in a plane intermediate theholding-prongs and being spaced from and preferably parallel to thesame. This wedging-prong 14 is preferably of substantially the samewidth as the distance between the two holding-prongs, the purpose ofwhich will hereinafter more fully appear, and its free end is beveled,as shown at 15, on'opposite sides to form a cenparts in all the liguresof the Vtral point or cutting edge 16.

By referring to Fig. 3 the operation of the staple will be apparent.When it is driven into the wood, the two holding-prongs will spreadoutwardly from each other because of the inner beveled faces 13, whilethe wedging-prong 16 will maintain its central relation. At the sametime this wedgingprong is close enough to the holding-prong so that thewood displaced by it will be forced outwardly on opposite sides andagainst the inner faces of the holding-prongs, thus clamping saidholding-prongsA securely in place and holding the material snuglyagainst the same.

IOO

These staples will be cut from strips or sheets of metal of the desiredthickness, so that the blanks will be perfectly fiat, being afterwardbent to the Iinished form, as above described. The manner of cuttingthese blanks will be evident by reference to Fig. 5, wherein a strip Ais illustrated, each blank being designated as a whole by B. It will beobserved that substantially parallel longitudinal cuts C are made, saidcuts being joined together at one end, as D, while their opposite ends Eextend to the side edges of the strip. The reason for having the widthof the wedging-prong 14 substantially equal to the distance between theholding-prongs 12 will now be seen. In cutting the blanks the materialthat is cut from between said holding-prongs of one blank willconstitute the wedging prong of the succeeding blank. Therefore no metalis lost in manufacturing the articles, and as the cuts are very simplesaid blanks may be made rapidly and afterward can be easily bent toproper form.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction, operation, andmany advantages of the herein-described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art without further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, andminor details of construction may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit or sacrificing any ofthe advantages of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. Astaple comprising abase, spaced holding-prongs projecting from thebase and having the inner faces of their free ends beveled, and awedging-prong also projecting from the base and disposed in a planeintermediate the holding-prongs, said wedging-prong being spaced fromthe holding-prong to form therebetween a wire-receiving seat and havingthe opposite side faces of its free end beveled.

2. A staple comprising a curved base forming a wire-receiving seat,spaced holdingprongs projecting from one edge of the base and havingl[he inner faces of their free ends beveled, and the wedging-prongprojecting from the opposite edge of the base and disposed in a planeintermediate the holdingprongs, said wedging -prong being spaced fromthe holding-prongs and having the opposite side faces of its free endbeveled.

3. A staple compris'inga base having a wirereceiving seat, spacedholding-prongs projecting from the base on one side of the seat, and awedging-prong also projecting from the base on the side of thewire-receiving seat opposite the holding-prongs and disposed in a planeintermediate the holding-prongs, the width of said wedging-prong beingsubstantially equal to the distance between the holding-prongs.

4. A staple made up of a base and three prongs all extending in the samegeneral direction, two of the prongs being arranged at one side of thebase and spaced from each other, and the third prong being located atthe opposite side of the base and arranged on aline between the saidspaced prongs, the shape and dimensions of the third or intermediateprong being equal to the interval between the two spaced prongs, for thepurposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. MORE HOUSE.

itnessesz H. TAYLOR, W. M. BARNETT.

